Technical Field
The invention relates to a machine for continuously gathering wet as well as dry tree leaves from a leaf windrow, compressing the leaves and delivering the leaves to a leaf holding container.
Municipal governments collect tree and shrub leaves and other yard debris in the fall of the year. This collection is required because burning of leaves is generally prohibited to improve air quality and to comply with air quality laws. Collection, of leaves and other yard debris, is separated from garbage and other general household trash for composting. Composting is required to reserve landfill space for trash that is not suitable for composting or recycling.
Tree leaves and other yard debris are bagged by homeowners for collection in some communities. Bagging is an impossible task for many homeowners. When the yard materials are bagged, the bags must be handled manually. Manual handling of such bags is labor intensive and therefore expensive. Bags slow the composting process even when biodegradable bags are used. Generally the bags have to be at least partially decomposed before the leaves can start to decompose. Bags which are not readily biodegradable must be separated from leaves and other yard debris before compost made from the leaves and debris is usable. No satisfactory system has been found for removing plastic bags from a compost pile.
The inventors of the wet leaf gathering and compressing machine described herein are also the inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,649. Their U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,649, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a machine for gathering and compressing leaves which works well in most conditions. It has been found however in high moisture conditions their earlier machine has limited capacity.
Wet leaves and yard debris can occur occasionally in all parts of the world. In coastal areas, which have frequent fog and mist, leaves which fall from trees and other plants are often wet. Gathering and conveying such leaves has been found to be relatively difficult and slow. Systems for conveying agricultural crop material, which is generally relatively dry and slides easily on metal plates, may not work well when handling leaves that are wet.